In U.S. Pat. No. 4,621,758, and in pending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 802,840, now U.S. Pat. No. 4,657,166, of which the present application is a continuation-in-part application, nail guide and positioning means are shown which serve to maintain each nail of a nailing strip in proper alignment with the nail driving blade of the machine and a workpiece as the nails are successively and sequentially severed by the nail driving blade. While the nail guide and positioning means shown in said patent and said application are highly effective, and essentially foolproof in the performance of their intended function, on occasion, the last nail of a nailing strip may be bent at a slight angle to the vertical axis of the driving blade by the force exerted on it by the ram or pusher of the nail feeder means of the machine as the penultimate or next to last nail of the nailing strip is being severed and driven into a workpiece by the driving blade. This slight bending of the last nail may cause it to be misaligned with the driving blade and the workpiece as it is moved into position in the nail guide and positioning means by the ram or pusher ready to be driven into a workpiece. Such slight misalignment may cause the last nail to enter the workpiece at an angle, a circumstance which, depending upon the nature of the workpiece, may require extraction of the nail from the workpiece and/or the use of another nail.